Yup, it's "Kitty Up", the painting I haven't touched for MONTHS. Painting class (well, it's kind of like studio time with access to an instructor, not really a "class" in the classice sense) is back in full swing and I'm back to work on "Kitty Up".
Was I tempted to start a new painting? Hell yes. But I've decided I'll only work on one painting at a time that way I never have any half finished canvases sitting around. So if I want to move on to something new I need to finish what I started first. Kind of like eating your veggies before you can have dessert!
SO, this is where the painting was when I started class last night:
(heh, a few weeks ago I discovered I can make my pics bigger once I post them. Hopefully that doesn't distort the image too much but wow, I can really SEE it now!).
Yeah, the painting was coming along but it was slow and kind of haphazzard.
I think I made some good progress last night. The best part was, I didn't have much of the hemming and hawing I usually have when I come back to painting after a long break. I just picked up the brush and went for it.
Ok, the first thing you notice are the "Village of the Damned" eyes on Timothy there. Very freaky and creepy.
What I really worked on the most was the background. I'm coming to the realization that the background is going to steal the show on this painting. It's funny how many colors are coming through (in the photo I'm working from) on cardboard. Yeah, the background in the photo is just a cardboard box which you think is just a generic tan color but there is a TON of color in it.
At the top is a lot of blue which kind of melts into a really light blue then into a more classic "cardboard" hue then the reds and oranges come in (right around the middle) right where there's a really dark band of color that has a lot of dark greens in it. From the bottom right corner the light blue comes back in and bleeds into a really dark brown (shadows cast by Timothy) and the left corner is really pretty dark with some more green really creeping in on the bottom left corner.
It's a lot of work to blend it all but it's really fun watching it come to life. I think getting the background moved forward will make the figures finally pop. They're coming along nicely but looked so flat and bland before I really started working on the background again.
Getting Timonthy's eyes filled in is going to help, too. I've been dancing around them for quite a while now and it's long past time to get them really filled in. At this point I can't really work much more on his head untile the eyes have established their place on his face.
I can't wait to get to the really fine details like putting the spring on Mr. Roboto's head and putting the fine corduroy lines on Timothy.
I'm glad I'm making myself go one painting at a time. It would be sad to abandon "Kitty Up". I think it may turn out to be one of my favorites.
(oh, I have an idea for my next painting already--but NOT what I was planning before. But who knows, I may change my mind yet again before I finally get done with "Kitty Up".)
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